The present invention relates to finishing a floor surface and method for constructing the same. More particularly, the invention relates to constructing a bowling lane in a manner that allows more precise construction while providing a lane surface that is both resistant to wear and easy to maintain.
There are several types of synthetic lanes on the market today. Most of these lanes have evolved from techniques developed by General Electric Company. These techniques include a 11/8-inch thick phenolic impregnated plastic laminate having a decorative panel shaped thereon. The surface of the phenolic appears as a wooden bowling lane. The technique uses a laminated panel that is attached with contact cement to the surface of the old lane and becomes the bowling surface. The panels include four bowling lane areas: an approach area, a sliding area, a lane area and a pin deck area.
A main drawback to this technique was that the phenolic decorated laminate sheet did not stick properly to the old wood lane. In addition, the wood lane would tend to move causing the laminate that was put on top to crack.
In dealing with this problem, it is known to attach a thick phenolic sheet with screws in the ball drop area of the lane within about the first four to five feet of the approach area. Laminate is then placed on top of the phenolic panel. A particle board is placed on the balance of the lane having the same thickness as the phenolic panel. This particle board is also screwed down like the phenolic sheet. A printed plastic sheet is placed on the top of a 3/8-inch phenolic panel. The panel is placed on the top surface of the old lane. The phenolic sheets are placed together so that they abut each other resulting in a seam or joint. The plastic panels are then screwed to the existing bowling lane surface. This technique eliminates the need for thick phenolic as support panels. The phenolic panel itself has print on its top surface indicating arrows and pin placement.
A drawback for this technique is that it is very expensive as it requires additional manufacturing steps. Another drawback to this technique is that where plastic panels are put together and when oil is placed on the lane, the oil may seep down in between the panels and contaminate the particle board to make the joints swell. Moisture has also been found to seep into the joint and contact the particle board. Consequently, the lanes may swell to exceed acceptable American Bowling Congress tolerances.
A further problem with this technique is that a seam is present adjacent the location where the panel in the approach area contacts the panel in the slide area. It is desirable to remove the seam so that the bowler does not slide on it when the bowler steps on the approach panel near the seam. This seam may pop out as the bowling ball rolls along the side of the lane, especially when the panel in the approach portion of the lane is tight up against the sheets in the slide portion of the lane. Consequently, a jacking effect may be created where one surface of the approach panel actually jacks up onto a lane panel, resulting in the edges along the seam of the panels being uneven. If one panel becomes higher than the other, a hazard may result where the bowler could trip or the bowler's slide may be interrupted.
Other techniques that have been used for manufacturing bowling lanes are disclosed in Murrey's U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,205,843, 4,205,842 and 4,244,570. These patents disclose using synthetic lanes that have a separate pin deck. The portion of the lane that is underneath the machine that sets the bowling pins is a separate panel and it is normally constructed with a composite of different structures. The systems disclosed in the Murrey patents use a barrier plate that is strong enough to withstand impact of the pins and does not need a separate pin deck.
A drawback of the Murrey system is that it requires decorative laminate panels that are put on top of a very expensive aluminum barrier plate. Decorative laminate is expensive and necessary to prevent scratching and abrasion of the lane. Current techniques for constructing a lane are designed such that the slide area and the pin deck area become a permanent part of the bowling lane.
Another drawback to the aforementioned techniques is that when a solid phenolic is used as a lane surface, that portion of the lane that uses the phenolic is not totally free from warpage. This warpage is due to moisture and other different characteristics of the materials that result in bending or twisting at the panels' joints. Again, these problems may become so severe that the joints exceed the tolerances of the American Bowling Congress over the entire surface of the lane. This problem is further compounded when panels having different materials are abutted against each other.
Many of the existing bowling lanes are constructed with 48-inch wood paneling in the approach area and 42-inch wood paneling in the lane area. A foul line extends across the lane to separate the approach area from the lane area. One such foul line includes a flat fiber material that extends along the surface of the lane straight down. This foul line is typically glued or fastened onto the side surface of the lane area and the approach area.
When a bowling ball is successively dropped on the lane adjacent the foul line, a small groove may form in the lane. Over time this groove becomes larger requiring that the lane be repaired or replaced. Further, the location of the wood panels abutting the foul line may tend to shimmy, also necessitating repair of the lane.
Synthetic lanes such as phenolic tend to be less susceptible to shimmying, however, synthetic lanes may be more expensive than natural wood. Further, current techniques for replacing old wood lanes with synthetic lanes require that the old approach area be replaced. When the player bowls on a synthetic approach panel, the feel to the player as a result of sliding on a synthetic panel may be different from the feel to the players than sliding on a wood approach panel. The feel of sliding on the wood approach panel is preferred.
When a synthetic lane is constructed, it is attached to a subsurface using screws. Once attached, a removable synthetic flat top dowel is placed snugly in a circular aperture that partially extends into the surface of the lane panel over the top of the screw to provide a smooth bowling surface. However, due to excessive vibrations that can occur when a bowling ball hits the lane, the dowels have a tendency to pop-up. This lane must be periodically serviced to push the dowels back in place.